CHRISSY OHLINGER / Special to the PVT Miss Tony and Miss Brandy oversee children in their Pre-K class next to the Ninth Grade Academy. Advertisement

"A human's brain is like a window. There is a certain time in a child's life to fill it with language and then it closes. The language can still get through, but it is harder, like trying to communicate through a closed window," believes Linda Fitzgibbons of Nye County Pre-K.

Nye County School District is almost half way through the first year of its brand new pre-kindergarten program, which is enjoying a promising start.

The program is run in close coordination with Even Start, but is a completely different educational project, according to Fitzgibbons, who is the director of both Pre-K and Even Start.

Fitzgibbons is also the person who applied for the grant that supports Pre-K and she is responsible for the actual program.

The new Nye County Pre-K is directed at low-income families and "English as a second language" children, ages 3 to 5 years old, who need extra preparation for kindergarten. The program differs from Even Start, a family literacy program working with children while their parents take classes to fulfill the requirements for a high school diploma.

Pre-Kindergarten runs four days a week and is free to the families who are accepted.

First priority is given to applicants who are both learning the English language and have a low income. The guidelines are set by using the free/reduced lunch standards.

Second priority is given to applicants who qualify for only one of the two requirements. Judging by the program's popularity, Fitzgibbons suspects that in the coming years, applicants will have to qualify in both areas to be considered at all.

The current waiting list has 10 to 15 children, and Fitzgibbons says she receives calls every day from parents who want more information or to put their child on the waiting list.

The program is different from other pre-kindergarten programs in Pahrump because it requires parent participation.

Parents have to get involved in several areas. They must report PACT (parent and child together) time. That can be any kind of activity that a parent spends with his child in one-on-one interaction.

This is based on the philosophy that the most important teachers in a child's life are his parents.

By spending quality time with children, their brain growth, language and socialization are stimulated as well as the child's sense of security.

The activities don't need to be expensive or highly structured. Helping an adult fold laundry would be considered quality PACT time.

Parents must report on how much time they spend reading with their child, too. Reading to children helps give the child a head start into reading and academic success by building a critical foundation of pre-reading skills the child can build upon later in kindergarten.

The new Pre-K program sends books home with students regularly -- for them to keep -- to promote reading at home.

Parents also have to go to workshops. "Everybody needs help with something," says Fitzgibbons, so she tries to offer a wide variety of interesting topics to address, such as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, training, CPR/First Aid, car seat safety and library or Family Storyteller workshops among others.

The idea is for parents to find something interesting that they would like to learn about. The offered classes are not advertised or open to the public. They are filled with parents of Even Start and Pre-K. Because the Nye County Pre-K program shares the same complex with Even Start and Early Childhood, there has been much confusion concerning who to contact for what information.

The three programs are independent of each other, but Even Start and Nye County Pre-K are somewhat codependent and separate from the Early Childhood program, which serves children with special needs.

Even Start and Nye County Pre-K have the power to share certain costs that benefit them both, such as facility overhead and some salaries.

"It's like we're married, Even Start and Pre-K. We're separate people, yet we work together for a common goal, to help the children," explains Fitzgibbons.

If the program proves to be successful, Fitzgibbons hopes to have new classrooms in the future to expand the project. Since the program is funded by a grant, Pre-K must show improvement in the students' academics in order to continue receiving funds.

One way the program measures its success is by longitudinal studies, or tracking the Pre-K students through their future academic careers. Students' test scores can be compared with other student test scores from children with similar backgrounds who did not receive Pre-K.

Another way of managing the success of the program relies on testing the students before they enter it and at various intervals during the first year. Student testing is language, not IQ, based. They are given tasks where they must express themselves verbally as well as other tasks where they must use listening skills.

Fitzgibbons is confident about the children's improvement for the last 12 years at Even Start. Based on her experience, early intervention helps this group very dramatically.

"When these kids walk in the door they speak no English," Fitzgibbons said. "When they leave they speak more English than their parents. They become interpreters for their parents at age 3. They also become resources in the kindergarten room to the teachers.

"The results are generally immediate and visible. Children's behavior improves as they learn social skills and parents comment on the language skills that they see at home."

For more information or to contact Nye County Pre-K, call Fitzgibbons at 775-751-1875. The facility is located at 2200 S. Mt. Charleston Drive, Building 1, just south of the high school.